


What I’ve Done

by CalebTB12



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Canon Divergence, Fox doesn’t deserve the hate, Fox feels terrible, Fox thought his gun was on stun, Fox’s side of things, I hope this will make you like him more, Rex is understanding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-30
Updated: 2019-05-30
Packaged: 2020-03-29 20:57:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19027783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CalebTB12/pseuds/CalebTB12
Summary: Fox’s side of things before, during, and after s6e4 “Orders”.





	What I’ve Done

Commander Fox walked purposefully toward the landing pad, wondering why a clone, one of his brothers, would try to assassinate the chancellor of the Republic he served. A light rain fell on him as he waited for Thire and the others to arrive. He put his helmet on to prevent the falling water from dripping down his face and into his tired eyes.

 

Thire, Jek, and Rys, along with a squad of “Shock Troopers” as they’d been dubbed, hurriedly walked in front of him. Their pace was eager, as if they were excited to be doing something again so soon. Fox sighed to himself. He understood that not doing very much was boring; that was part of being a Coruscant Guardsman. But they had just gotten back from arresting a small group of terrorists on the other side of town.

 

“More terrorists, Commander? I’d have thought they’d learned their lesson by now,” Jek said, smirking. Fox shot the Shock Trooper a glare from behind his dark visor, mentally sighing.

“Afraid not, Jek. We’re going after one of our own. You know what that means: weapons on stun. Just because he’s been labeled a madman, doesn’t mean we’re gunning down our brother.”

“Sir, yes sir!” they shouted in unision. As they quickly shifted their DC-15 Rifles to non-lethal ammo, Fox walked onto to the LAAT gunship. He didn’t bother shifting his pistols to stun; he already had. At least, that’s what he believed. Little did the Coruscant Guard commander know, Supreme Chancellor Palpatine was a Sith Lord. A Sith Lord who’d mind tricked him into thinking the twin DC-17s he carried were on stun already. A Sith Lord who wanted nothing more than ARC-5555 dead, because he was in danger of being exposed by the elite trooper.

 

.......

 

As Fox and the others stealthily snuck into the abandoned warehouse, they were greeted by a most unusual scene:

“Gah, YOU DON’T BELIEVE ME!!”

This ARC Trooper had managed to capture General Skywalker and his Captain, CT-7567, better known as Rex, in a rayshield. Fox signaled to his men to move out in front of this trooper.

“On your knees, NOW!” Fox ordered. The trooper threw a panicked glance over his shoulder and wheeled around quickly. He was greeted by a dozen troopers wearing blood red armor, all with weapons pointed at him.

“NO! You have to listen to me! Please!” The trooper steadied his voice before he continued. “Please listen.”

“I’ll gladly listen to you, when you’re behind bars,” Fox said without wavering.

“NO!” The trooper desperately lunged for Captain Rex’s discarded pistols. He scooped one up and pointed directly at the clone commander’s head. For a moment the room was silent. Just two men, face to visor, with guns pointed at lethal areas on each other’s bodies. Then a single shot broke the silence. The bright blue laser dashed out of Fox’s gun and straight through Fives’ chest.

 

White noise surrounded Fox. His shaky hands dropped both of his pistols, which clanged into the metal floor, a noise that Fox didn’t hear. He couldn’t hear anything besides the shot. Followed by Fives’ gasp of pain. He couldn’t see anything besides the look of shock on Fives’ face, as the bullet of energy passed right through his chest effortlessly.

 

He walked over to a crate and sat down against it. Hot tears streamed down from his eyes, wildly dancing down the lines of his face. I killed my brother. I murdered him. I’m supposed to stop murderers, not become one. What have I done? All of these thoughts mercilessly attacked his mindscape as he took his helmet off and buried his face in his hands. When he finally pulled his head back from his hands, he had no idea how long he’d been sitting there. The black fabric of his gloves were soaked now. Physically, with his tears. Philosophically, with his brother’s blood.

He heard footsteps coming toward him, but didn’t bother looking up at whoever it may be. He was extremely surprised when this person sat down next to him. He glanced up and saw Captain Rex.

“Captain, I-I’m so sorry.....” he began. He didn’t know what to say. When you kill someone’s friend, “sorry” doesn’t bring them back. “I thought I had my pistols on stun...” Fox desperately searched his memories for the moment when he had actually clicked his weapon to stun. He remembered telling his men and talking to the chancellor. Wait. Why would he be talking about weapons with the chancellor?

“Rex....can I tell you something?” Rex absentmindedly nodded while he ran his gloved hand over his face. Then he pulled a small blade from his belt and scratched a tally mark into the blue paint on his arm.

“I think that Chancellor Palpatine tricked me. You know, like all that Jedi stuff. Force Suggestion. I remember talking to him about stun weapons.....”

Rex froze up for a second. For what felt like years, the blue-armored and crimson-armored brothers just stared at each other. Rex broke the silence.

 

“That’s what Fives said. That Palpatine told him he was a Sith Lord.”

 

“Yeah, but I still pulled the trigger. I should have checked. I should be sent back to Kamino for reconditioning. We’re not supposed to kill each other.” He ran his calloused hand through his thick black hair.

 

“Commander, with all due respect, you are talking nonsense. You thought you were stunning him. You had no way of knowing that you were being influenced by a Sith.” Rex smiled softly. He gently rested his hand on Fox’s shoulder. “It’s alright, ner vod. We all make mistakes. How much do you know about the Umbara campaign?”

Fox looked at him with genuine confusion. What did kriffing Umbara have to do with this? “Not much. Mission reports don’t make it to the Coruscant Guard, I’m afraid.”

Rex's face darkened, the lines on his forehead creasing. “Krell was our General during the campaign, but I won’t get too much into him. He tricked us into thinking the Umbarans stole the 212th’s armor. Apparently, he said the same thing to them about me and my boys.”

Fox didn’t need Force powers to figure out what Rex meant. Clones firing at other clones. It sounded like a nightmare. A nightmare that he and apparently Rex lived now. 

“Fives didn’t trust him. But I did........” Rex’s voice cracked on the last word. Fox shifted slightly. “What was Fives’ conspiracy, anyway?” 

“That the Chancellor could tell us what to do and we’d be controlled into obeying by chips made of organic tissue in our heads. Apparently, Palpatine is also a Sith Lord who plans on telling us to kill our Jedi Generals.”

“Rex, we have to get those chips out of our heads!” 

The 501st captain nodded sharply. “I intend to remove my own, but we have to be careful who we tell. Otherwise, we might end up like Fives.”

Fox sighed. He supposed a mass conspiracy wasn’t a very bright idea. But he wanted to save all of his brothers. For Fives.

 

“We have to try, captain. We owe it to him. He saved us. Now we have to save our brothers.”

 

Rex smiled. “I couldn’t agree more, Commander Fox. I have a few clones who might be willing to listen to us.”

**Author's Note:**

> Well, there it was. I always thought Fox deserved better. The show made him seem like a heartless ballbag, so I always wanted to write a story where he wasn’t necessarily at fault. I hope you enjoyed the story!


End file.
